Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1887-10-01

"Rent-ttle," is only l,o,cer To extort
a portion of the product of land. 1t is
this power, privilege or franchise that is
bought and sold, not the land itself. As
it is neither wealth nor capital, it cannot
be merchandise, A legal right to rob
labor may yield wealth, but it is not
itself wealth. A title to land used by
any other than the holder of the title is
legal right to rob labor, which the
Socialist would have abolished; why then
class it with merchandise, wealth and
capital which we do not want destroyed.
In my opinion, Socialists do not want
to abolish private capital; they want to
organize cooperative product under
their State and local organizations.
With such enterprises private capital
could not compete, and would abandon
the field, but would not be abolished.
abolish implies power to put an end
to any method or system, and to forbid
all attempts to renew it. The word
properly applies to land monopoly. We
would abolish ownership of land worked
by tenants, and provide against revival
of the system, We would Supersede pri-
vate capital by introducing public CAPT
tai. When we demand that private cap
ital be abolished" the enemies of So
cialism properly infer that no one shall
hold the smallest item of private capital.
If great instruments of production" are
meant, the language should be changed.
| should like to hear the reasons why
this position is not the correct one.
Chicago, Ill. ZENo
To those who are interested in the
matter, we suggest perusal of the Plat
form of the Socialistic Labor Party, and
review of the answers to "Ieno" and
others in No. 80 of the WoRKMEN' S
ADVOCATE. By the way, "Zeno" him.
self may be pleased when he sees the re-
vised platform of the $. l.. p; and if the
people only adopt the democratic politi-
cal principle of our party, there will not
be much need to fear economic wrongs,
for we trust the people. "-ED.
To the Worhmens AdUocate:
Writing of Marks contention that it
is labor and labor alone which creates
value, w. H II. Benson says II con-
tend that it is labor in combination with
skill or genius which gives exchange val
lie to commodities" and concludes thus:
"lf Karl Marx had started out with the
above true proposition, could he have
come to the conclusions he did come to
when he started out with the PROPOSE
| ton that labor alone imparts valve, and
does he not lose sight of the fact that
| the labor of some men is worth ten, a
hundred, or thousand times as much
as the labor of others?"
Really, Mr.. Benson is to be cOngratu-
| lated upon having discovered the absurd
est of mares nests. Shade of Marx Me-
thinks hear thy groan of despair; but
rest, perturbed spirit, the night is far
spent. Mr.. Benson merely stumbles into
the common error of confounding the
genuine term '1abor' with the specific
term manual labor" and speaks of Ga
Dor in combination with skill or genius
as if thing could in the concrete be de-
tached from it's qualities; thus, accord
ing to his Bensonian formula, it is not
correct to say that pumpkin satisfies
hunger, but pumpkin with weight and
density satisfies hunger, or shall we say
that not the mind alone, but the mind in
combination with reason and under
standing can comprehend Marx.
If follower of Marx could deny that
the labor of some men is worth more
than that of others, he would necessarily
have to admit that the writings of Mr..
Benson are worth as much as the writ
ings of Karl Marx. Does Mr.. B. credit
anyone with such superhuman power of
imagination?
Clearly Mr. B. has been studying the
wonderful works of those who would
have us believe the moon is made out of
green cheese, and that clipping coupons
is a work of transcendent skill and gen
Jus, since it is paid the best.